1 online resource (vii, 405 pages) :

Modern physics has revealed the universe as a much stranger place than we could have imagined. The puzzle at the centre of our knowledge of the universe is time. Michael Lockwood takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the nature of things. He investigates philosophical questions about past, present, and future, our experience of time, and the possibility of time travel. And he provides the most careful, lively, and up-to-date introduction to the physics of time and the. structure of the universe. His aim is not just to boggle the mind, but to lead the reader towards an understanding of

Includes bibliographical references and index

Two concepts of time -- Time and space: a marriage is arranged -- Taking space-time seriously -- From flat to curved space-time -- Weaving the cosmic tapestry -- Closed timelike curves: science fact or science fiction? -- Classical time travel: the toils of paradox -- Hamilton's legacy: physical systems and their state spaces -- Time asymmetry and the second law -- Entropy, electrodynamics, and the role of gravity -- 'Drawn through life backwards' -- The unyielding past -- The emergency of order -- From quantum jumps to Schrödinger's cat -- Schrödinger's time-traveller -- Space, time, and quantum gravity: physics at the frontier -- The time of our lives

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